KARACHI: Eighty-two children in Sindh have died of measles since the year’s beginning, with most deaths being reported in January, according to health officials.

According to a monthly break-up of the number of children affected by the disease and deaths caused by it, provided by officials privy to the healthcare facilities in Sindh, during the three weeks of April, one child out of 135 children affected by measles has died in Sindh. The death toll in March was 31 out of 495 reported cases of measles, while some 14 out of 783 affected children died in February. Earlier in January, some 3,141 children aged up to five years were affected by measles in the province. Of them 36 died.

The total number of affected children so far this year is 4,554.

The officials said some 210 children had died of measles in Sindh last year.

The official figures are in complete contrast of the figures given by the World Health Organisation and local professional bodies who put the number almost double to what has been claimed by the provincial government.

World Health Organisation (WHO) last month said up to 500 children had died because of measles since September 2012 in the country and most of the victims belonged to Sindh.According to a survey of the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM – 2010/11), the country’s routine immunisation coverage does not meet the optimal routine rate of more than 80 per cent, while the WHO put Pakistan’s routine immunisation coverage close to 65 per cent, with only some important cities of Punjab recording a better performance. The Pakistan Paediatrics Association said in Sindh, it was between 20 and 50 per cent.